An economy suffers when money is taken from a rich person and sent to the government because this is the very money that the rich would have otherwise used to fund the growth of their own or other people's businesses which in turn creates jobs for a population. The premise behind taxing the rich is that society as a whole will be better off when this money is transferred into the hands of the government but there is absolutely no historical data to suggest that this is true. All of the available evidence shows the opposite to be true - that private individuals and businesses are far more effective at creating businesses and jobs with their own money than government is.